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Prices Paid: Buying & Leasing Experiences Hyundai Sonata Prices Paid and Buying Experience
5180 messages, Last post on Jul 24, 2008 at 9:11 PM
You are in the Prices Paid: Buying & Leasing Experiences Forum. Your Hosts are car_man & kyfdx
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I'm a FIRST TIME car buyer - and I did a heck of a lot of research and it all really paid off today. Here's my experience. I spent about 4 weeks using email only to contact about 33 Hyundai dealers in IL, IN, MN and WI (I live in Chicago.) To keep the comparison shopping apples-to-apples I asked each dealer to provide their best price for a 2008 Sonata GLS Auto 4cylinder with Package 1 (no sunroof) and no demos. After I had 5 dealers with great prices (all under 16k) I started calling them one by one to get them to beat their competitors prices. After a week of this, I got a price of $14,998 for this exact car from O'Connor Hyundai in IL and Denny Hecker's Hyundai in MN. Sticker price was $20,195. $14,998 is $5197 less than that! The guy at O'Connor told me that this was the actual cost that the dealer pays for the car. Whether or not this is true - it was a heck of a deal! The closest dealers to me were Rogers Hyundai and O'Hare Hyundai, so I wanted to see if they could match that price. I went to Rogers Hyundai and drove a Sonata and the Salesman was extremely friendly, but the best they could do was $15,900. Sorry guys, I don't want to pay $902 extra! I called O'Hare and they agreed to the $14,998 price. I emailed the internet salesman to make sure I had everything in writing, and he responded in the affirmative. I drove out to the dealer this afternoon and another incredibly knowledgeable salesman showed my partner and I the three Sonatas they had in my configuration (08, 4cyl, GLS, pack1, auto, not a demo). Two were in colors we didn't like and they had one in black - our favorite! After the test drive, we went inside, I showed him the email from the internet salesman and he drew up the paperwork with the $14,998 price. Then we waited for an hour while the loan guy ran our credit and prepared the financing paperwork and we enjoyed their free coffee free wifi. The financing was blessedly painless. We were approved for the price of the car and we chose to put $2K down. We accepted Gap insurance (additional $595) but declined additional warranties (Wrap coverage is what they call it) and insurance that pays off the car if you die (morbid!). There was no pressure to accept the extra things ever. Doc fees were $150. The greatest thing was that they had real plates there at the dealership and they put them on then and there (no paper plates and coming back to the dealer in 3 weeks for the metal ones!) While we were signing all the paperwork, I opened up my MacBook, went to Progressive.com and resumed a saved insurance quote I had already configured the day before. All I had to do was add the VIN and the lenders name, and I clicked "Buy Now" and was insured instantly ($403 for 6 months). I clicked a few more buttons and 30 seconds later the Loan Officer's fax machine beeped as our proof of insurance came in. He was pretty stunned! After we finished all the financial paperwork we met back with the salesman who gave us our keys, operation manual, etc... He took us out to the car which had just been washed, had all the protective plastic removed and had a half tank of gas. He really took his time explaining all the features of the car. I thought it would be a waste of time, but there were a few I wasn't aware of like the multi featured trip computer, trunk lock/unlock interior switch and 60/40 seatback locks. We drove off happy with our new purchase and filled with feelings of good-will towards everyone at O'Hare Hyundai and Hyundai in general for making such an awesome car! 
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Replying to: sujan (Mar 17, 2008 2:28 pm) |
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Replying to: b612markt (Mar 18, 2008 8:36 pm) Looks like you swapped maybe risking $1K-$2K if the car got totaled in the first year or two in return for guaranteeing to lose $595. Very high cost in relation the amount of benefit it's providing. That doesn't seem like it makes any sense except for the dealer to increase their profit in the sale.
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Replying to: jaxs1 (Mar 18, 2008 9:04 pm) Anyway, sounds like they did a good job of negotiating. I'm suprized that Patrick Hyundai in Schaumburg wasn't a player as they tend to advertise some very good prices usually.
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Replying to: m6user (Mar 18, 2008 9:50 pm) $19500 at most minus $3000 rebate is $16500 minus $2000 down payment is $14500 financed. Is an insurance company really going to pay that much less than the remaining $14K-$14500 loan balance if the car got totaled in the first year to justify paying another $595 for gap insurance? He could have also put the $600 spent on the gap insurance down and reduced the loan payoff and therefore also the need to have gap insurance. |
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Yes.. that is a little pricy.. and, I wouldn't have bought it.. But, given the historical depreciation rate of Hyundais, I'm sure he'd be more than just $1K-$2K upside down, if something happened to his car in the next couple of years...
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Replying to: kyfdx (Mar 19, 2008 4:39 am) You can look up private party value of a 2007 GLS automatic and see it wouldn't be that far under the loan payoff especially if he had put that $595 towards lowering the loan balance even more. The 2008 would be valued at least slightly more than the numbers shown for 2007s. |
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Replying to: b612markt (Mar 18, 2008 8:36 pm) In CT, the cost is $27 per six month policy. b612markt should check to see what Progressive would charge on his policy & if more attractive see if he can rescind it from his purchase. |
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Replying to: bhmr59 (Mar 19, 2008 12:42 pm) I'm absolutely loving the new Sonata.
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